UPDATE: The points made below have now been affirmed in peer-reviewed research. In Social Desirability Bias in Pornography-Related Self-Reports: The Role of Religion (2017), Dr. Joshua Grubbs tested his hypothesis that religious individuals are more likely to lie about their porn use (in anonymous surveys studies or to researchers). The “religious people are lying” hypothesis rested on a few state-wide studies, which suggested that conservative or religious states might use more porn. The problem with such claims is that nearly every study that employed anonymous surveys had found lower rates of porn use in religious individuals.

Grubbs found no evidence for religious individuals lying about their porn use. In fact, religious people may be more honest than secular individuals about porn use. This suggests that the state-wide comparisons may be less reliable than anonymous surveys in which each subject’s level of religiosity is identified. Religion appears to be protective against porn use.

From the conclusion:

“However, contrary to popular sentiment-and our own hypotheses-we found no evidence for and much evidence against the suggestion that religious individuals have a more pronounced social desirability bias against the reporting of pornography consumption than the irreligious. Interaction terms assessing that possibility were either nonsignificant or significant in the reverse direction.”

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Utah is not #1 in porn use. Not even close. That often-repeated meme arose from Benjamin Edelman’s 2009 economics paper “Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?” He relied entirely on subscription data from a single top-ten provider of pay-to-view content when he ranked states on porn consumption – ignoring hundreds of other such websites. Why did he choose that one to analyze?

We do know that Edelman’s analysis was conducted circa 2007, after free, streaming “tube sites” were operational, and porn viewers were increasingly turning to them. So, Edelman’s single data point out of thousands (of free and subscription sites) cannot be presumed to be representative of all US porn users.

Turns out it’s not. In fact, other studies and available data rank Utah porn use between 40th and 50th among the states. See:

The oft-repeated, but unsupported “Utah as number 1” myth often bolsters another spurious meme, namely, that ‘religious individuals use more porn than nonreligious individuals.’ In fact, the opposite is true. Religiosity predicts far lower rates of porn use.

The preponderance of studies report far lower rates of porn use in religious individuals compared with non-religious individuals. Consider these studies:

The “Utah Is #1” talking point lingers in mainstream journalism and sexology spin long after the science has proven otherwise. Why?

Finally, recent articles about the Joshua Grubbs studies (“perceived addiction studies”) have tried to paint a very misleading picture of what these studies actually reported and what these findings mean. In essence, bloggers, and sometimes Grubbs himself, have claimed that religiosity is strongly related to porn addiction. It’s not. In response to these spurious articles, YBOP published this extensive critique of the claims made in the perceived addiction studies and in the related misleading articles.